


The Shatterdome Spring Banquet

by manseekingmonster



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Alcohol, Dancing, Dumbass Boys, M/M, Trans!Hermann Gottlieb, Trans!Newton Geiszler, theyre both trans fight me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 12:59:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19357525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/manseekingmonster/pseuds/manseekingmonster
Summary: The Shatterdome holds a dance for its employees. Newt sees it as a perfect opportunity to dance with Hermann, but Hermann doesn’t dance.





	The Shatterdome Spring Banquet

“Hermann! Hermann, check this out!”

Newt rushed into the K-Science lab, flailing his arms wildly. He held a flyer in one hand, and waved his other hand in the air excitedly, threatening to knock a few specimens off of the higher shelves.

“Newton, calm down, will you?” Hermann shouted back from the other side of the lab. “I’ve just finished re-organising those shelves, don’t go knocking them about.”

“Sorry,” Newt muttered, shoving his hand in his pocket. He walked up to Hermann and handed him the flyer, still brimming with excitement.

Hermann adjusted his glasses and stared at the flyer quizzically.

“Shatterdome Spring Banquet? Newton, what is this?”

“I told you to stop calling me Newton when it’s just the two of us,” Newt grumbled. “It’s too formal.”

“Fine then, _Newt_ , what is this?”

“It’s… a dance,” Newt replied. “Read the flyer.”

“Is this an event for children?” Hermann said sarcastically, pointing at the smiling cartoon dinosaurs which adorned the borders of the flyer.

“No! It’s like… it’s a party, Herms. There’ll be… alcohol and stuff.”

“Please stop calling me ‘Herms’. I for one prefer a more sophisticated-sounding name.”

“Sorry,” Newt said again. “But like, you’ll go with me, right?”

“If you want to go so badly, you can go yourself,” Hermann said matter-of-factly. “I’m not one for parties, and I can’t dance.”

“Come on, man, you can dance!” Newt sat down on Hermann’s desk, disturbing his notes and earning him a glare. He reacted by smiling softly at Hermann. “It’ll be fun. I can teach you.”

“Newt…” Hermann sighed, giving his lab partner a condescending look.

“Please?” Newt whined. “It’ll look stupid if I don’t have a date.”

“This is a work event!” Hermann argued. “It will be weirder if you do have a date.”

Newt responded by crossing his arms and pouting. Hermann sighed. He was adorable, but it would be idiotic to give into such childish tactics. Still, Hermann found that watching Newt like this made him somehow more inclined to take him to the dance.

“How about if we just… drop in and see what it’s about?” Hermann suggested. “We won’t stay for long, but you can dance by yourself for a few songs, maybe have a drink.”

“Why do I have to dance by myself?” Newt continued to pout.

“I mean, you don’t have to. Maybe you can get one of the Jaeger pilots to dance with you. I know how much you love gawking at them.”

Newt blushed. He wasn’t afraid to admit to stealing a few less-than-subtle glances at passing Jaeger pilots from time to time. It was as much out of jealousy as it was out of attraction. After all, who wouldn’t be jealous of the Jaeger pilots, for all the reverence they receive and for their job as pilots of giant robots (giant robots!) and for their muscles.

“I guess that would be kind of fun,” Newt mused. “But like, I’d rather dance with you.”

“No,” Hermann said firmly. “This whole banquet is childish and stupid, and I refuse to indulge in it.”

“Your loss,” Newt replied, sliding off the desk. He smirked as he did so, but walked away slumped over and defeated. He really had been looking forward to dancing with Hermann. Clutching the flyer to his chest, he walked out of the K-Science lab and up to the cafeteria to grab lunch. Really, he was going up there to watch the Jaeger pilots, but he figured he may as well get a sandwich or something while he was there.

As Newt sat at a table in the far corner of the cafeteria, picking at a salad and staring distantly at the Jaeger pilots, he couldn’t get Hermann out of his mind. Even with a table full of tall, handsome, muscular men right in front of him, his scrawny friend wouldn’t leave his head. Hermann was, in a way, perfect. And besides, they were drift-compatible! It was practically meant to be. Except that Hermann ‘didn’t dance’. It was bullshit.

The issue wasn’t that he couldn’t dance. Newt knew that was what he was trying to imply, but he also knew it was deeper than that. Hermann could walk well enough that if Newt were to hold him just right, the two of them could slow dance perfectly. If he just leaned on Newt’s shoulder, and they held hands, and then swayed together with the music…

Newt sighed. It would be so perfect. But Hermann would never let it happen. The idea of leaning into Newt’s shoulder and holding hands was far too forward for him. Hermann was inclined to be proper and indifferent, consequently hiding any feelings he may have had for anyone. Sometimes Newt wasn’t sure what would be worse: Hermann not having feelings for him at all, or Hermann having feelings for him but never admitting it.

Both were painful. Because fuck, Newt had feelings for Hermann. He’d been in love with him practically since they met; ever since he’d looked into Hermann’s soft, shining eyes past his little round glasses, he’d been head-over-heels in love. He barely even tried to hide it, constantly sitting up on Hermann’s desk and making eyes at him while he tried to work. It was obnoxious, and he was sure Hermann had to understand that Newt had feelings for him by now, but he never actually acknowledged it. Newt was left lovestruck and alone, staring distantly at the Jaeger pilots only because he didn’t want to annoy his lab partner anymore.

-

The night of the dance arrived a few days later, and Newt was once again brimming with excitement. Hermann couldn’t find anything he needed to work on, so he was forced to go along with Newt to check out the dance. A part of the Jaeger bay floor had been cleared away, leaving space for a dance floor along with a small drink table. The pulsing music alone was enough to put Hermann on edge, and he longed for the comfortable silence of the K-Sci lab, but Newt was practically mesmerised by the music and by the brightly-colored lights dancing along the walls and floor.

“We’re just going to look around a few minutes and then leave, right?” Hermann asked.

“Sure, dude,” Newt replied. “Now c’mon, let’s get drinks! They made the punch blue, look!”

Newt gestured wildly toward a large bowl of bright blue liquid. A sign taped to the bowl read “Kaiju Blue-Raspberry”, and what looked to be a crayon drawing of Godzilla stood next to the writing. He took two plastic cups and filled them both with the liquid, took a long sip from one, and offered the other to Hermann. Hermann accepted the drink, but had no intention of actually consuming it.

“Try it,” Newt urged. “Tastes like blue raspberry!”

Hermann took a careful sip from the plastic cup, and almost immediately spit it out. The drink seemed to be mostly made of sugar, but it did have the faintest aftertaste of hard alcohol. You’d probably have to drink a gallon of the stuff to actually get tipsy, but by then the amount of sugar would probably have been enough to intoxicate you.

“You’re going to get a sugar rush if you keep drinking this stuff,” Hermann grumbled. “And I do not enjoy dealing with you after you’ve had that much sugar.” Newt was already hyperactive enough, but the addition of sweets lead to a kind of chaos rivalled only by Kaiju themselves. Glass was broken, laboratory equipment was trashed, various Shatterdome employees were terrified. And when the sugar crash finally set in, Hermann was the only one left to drag Newt by one arm into the most convenient place possible and watch over him until he woke up.

“It’ll be fine!” Newt assured him. “You’re just a party pooper.” He stuck out his tongue at Hermann and then ran off towards the dance floor, blue drink sloshing out of his cup.

Hermann watched Newt down the entire cup of liquid in one sip. He sighed, leaning into his cane and staring at his lab partner. _What an idiot,_ he thought as he watched Newt step unevenly to the pulsing pop music. This man was pretty much the sole contributor in the study of kaiju anatomy, and he’d made major breakthroughs in the knowledge of kaiju brain function. But here he was now, sliding across the concrete floor in his Doc Martens, dribbling bright blue alcoholic beverage onto his white button-up shirt. It was a humiliating display; Newt was making an absolute fool of himself and he didn’t even realise it. Hermann blushed from second-hand embarrassment.

Except he felt a little more than second-hand embarrassment as he watched his lab partner unbutton his shirt, just enough so that the drink-stained part of fabric wasn’t touching his skin. This lead Hermann to blush harder, averting his gaze and taking another sickening sip of his drink. The jolt of sugar through his system made him dizzy.

Who was he kidding? It wasn’t the sugar, and he wasn’t dizzy. Or at least, not in the traditional sense, where his head spun and he felt like falling over. He was dizzy in that thoughts raced through his mind so quickly and wildly that he couldn’t keep track of them. These were thoughts that had crossed his mind before, but not like this, never in such quick succession and never with such force. Hermann was mesmerised as Newt undid another button. Fuck, he was cute. He was stupid and completely unaware of social cues that would lead any normal person to keep their shirt on in this situation, but he was adorable.

Newt ran back over to the drink table, button-up now hanging half-open and exposing the beautiful rainbow of tattoos on his chest. He filled up another cup of punch, downed half of it in one go, and then filled it back up before approaching Hermann.

“You’re missing out,” Newt taunted, grinning at Hermann.

“Button your shirt, Newton,” Hermann muttered. “You’re indecent.” He secretly hoped Newt would ignore this advice.

“Not anymore,” Newt argued. “Top surgery’s awesome, dude.”

Hermann’s face somehow went even redder.

“You still need to be fully clothed in the workplace!” he exclaimed. “Come here. Let me fix it.”

Newt blinked, wondering if he’d heard correctly. He moved in closer to Hermann, and was surprised when Hermann actually grabbed onto his shirt and began redoing his buttons, pausing every few seconds to steady himself. Eventually this ended with him leaning his shoulder into Newt’s chest as he finished doing up the top buttons. This caused Newt to blush almost as hard as Hermann.

“Uh. Thanks,” Newt muttered.

“It’s nothing,” Hermann replied, dragging himself off of Newt.

“My shirt still has punch all over it,” Newt complained.

“Then you should’ve been more careful,” Hermann scolded. “If you’re uncomfortable, we can leave and you can go change your shirt.”

“I’m not leaving until I get that dance.”

“Then you’ll be here an awfully long time.”

“So will you.”

“What’s to stop me from leaving you, hm?”

“You wouldn’t leave me,” Newt insisted as he skipped off towards the dance floor. He was right. It was practically in Hermann’s job description to keep track of Newt’s antics, holding his hand and dragging him back to his quarters when he got too rowdy or sitting next to him on the floor after he inevitably passed out. Hermann watched as Newt danced erratically, wondering which of those things he’d end up doing tonight.

After about ten servings of punch (Hermann was sickened by the thought of that), Newt was starting to get tipsy. The top two buttons of his shirt were once again undone, but Hermann hadn’t caught exactly when that happened. Newt leaned over the drink table, sloppily pouring himself another cup.

“You’ve had a lot to drink there, little guy.”

Newt looked up, meeting eyes with a broad-shouldered man with blonde hair who had to have been a solid foot taller than him. He was definitely a Jaeger pilot, Newt had seen him in the mess hall during his many drawn out lunch sessions, but he couldn’t seem to remember his name.

“You here with anyone?” the pilot asked, taking the ladle from Newton and pouring punch into his cup. Newt took a sip before answering.

“I’m… with my lab partner,” he replied, gesturing at Hermann.

“Are you with him, or did he just take you to the dance?”

Newt sighed, looking longingly across the Jaeger bay at his lab partner.

“I suppose he’s not given you a dance yet,” the pilot said smugly.

“He’ll come around,” Newt said.

“You sure?”

“Uhh… yeah.”

“Well, I feel there’s no harm in killing time waiting for him to come around.”

“What?”

“I’m asking you to dance.”

“Oh!” Newt laughed. “Uhhh… okay.”

Newt stepped around the table and took the big, calloused hands of the pilot. He allowed himself to be lead onto the dance floor, his head spinning with a mix of intoxication and infatuation. Sure, he was disappointed at not being able to dance with Hermann, but _fuck_ this guy was hot. His hands were so strong, yet so gentle, and he effortlessly guided Newt in circles across the dance floor.

Then a slow song came on, and everything went crazy.

Because the pilot was so much taller than Newt, he could easily pick him up in his arms and twirl him around. Maybe Newt was just drunk, but this guy seemed to be some kind of expert dancer. He dipped Newt down almost to the floor, causing Newt’s glasses to tilt off his nose, and his vision went blurry for a brief, exhilarating second. When he came back up, the pilot held him close, pulling him upwards so their lips met. Newt panicked, but didn’t make any move to separate from the kiss. He allowed himself to be lifted off the ground as the other man’s tongue forced its way into his mouth. This would have been incredibly strange had he not been drunk, but after ten or so cups of whatever the hell Kaiju Blue-Raspberry was, all he could think was _holy shit, I’m being kissed_. It was unbelievable.

Then the pilot set him down, and he stole a glance over at Hermann. To his shock, his lab partner had been watching the whole display, red-faced and teary-eyed. Newt’s eyes widened, reaching out a hand towards Hermann in desperation before the pilot swept him up again.

Hermann wiped hot, wet tears from his face as he looked on. He hadn’t expected to become this upset at seeing Newt with another man, but when he really looked at it-looked at Newt, his lab partner, _his Newton_ with another man’s arms around him and another man’s mouth pressed to his face-he boiled with rage. It should be him, it should be him dipping Newton down and kissing him and twirling him in circles, but that just wasn’t possible.

Newt pulled away from his dance, saying nothing to the pilot as he rushed toward his lab partner. He didn’t care about dancing anymore, he just wanted to make sure Hermann was okay. Poor Hermann, Newt should never have taken that dance, he should never have dragged Hermann here in the first place, this was all his fault. He was sweating from embarrassment and from the exhilaration of the dance, so he unbuttoned a couple more buttons to cool off as he stumbled drunkenly towards his friend.

Hermann was surprised by Newt’s sudden appearance, nearly toppling over as Newt enveloped him in a hug. Newt felt the starched lapels of Hermann’s suit against his bare chest, and it was uncomfortable, but he didn’t care.

“Hermann, I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “Please tell me you’re okay. You’re okay, right? I’m so sorry.”

“Newton-” Hermann choked on his words. “It’s alright, sweetheart. I’ll be alright.”

Newt’s heart fluttered at the word “sweetheart”. Hermann dragged him out of the hug, forcing him to stand in front of him and stare into his eyes, which were red and wet with tears.

“You’re crying,” Newt pointed out.

“And your shirt’s come undone again,” Hermann deflected.

“Sorry,” Newt muttered. “I’ll fix it.”

“No, wait,” Hermann interrupted as Newt reached down to redo his buttons. He fumbled with the fabric, clearly drunk. “I’ll help you.”

Hermann knelt down so he could reach the lower buttons on Newt’s shirt. Then, to Newt’s surprise, he reached for one of the buttons which was already closed. He undid it expertly, moving quickly down the shirt until all of them were unbuttoned, and the large kaiju tattoo on Newt’s chest was staring him down.

“Uh… thought you meant, like…” Newt sputtered in disbelief.

Hermann stood up, stroking his hand up the face of the kaiju. Newt shuddered, leaning into the touch. The kiss with the pilot had been something, but this… this was something more. This was deeply intimate in a way he’d never experienced before. Hermann set his hand on Newt’s shoulder, rubbing his neck gently with his thumb. It was making Newt insane.

“You wanted to dance with me, Newton?” Hermann asked.

“Yes. Yes, please,” Newt replied breathily.

“Let’s go,” Hermann offered, taking Newt’s hand and guiding him to the dance floor. “We haven’t got all night.”

The slow song still played from when Newt had danced with the pilot. It was one of those songs that looped over and over for minutes on end, the kind they played for an ungodly amount of time at dances so everyone had time to find a partner and have their fun. Newt placed his left hand over Hermann’s right hand, gently enough that Hermann could still use his cane, and rested his right hand on Hermann’s shoulder. Hermann followed suit with his left hand. They stood as close together as they possibly could without stepping on each other’s shoes. It wasn’t nearly as dramatic as Newt’s dance with the pilot, but he still liked it a lot better. He enjoyed staring into Hermann’s eyes past his cute little round glasses. He enjoyed the soft tap of Hermann’s cane as they swayed back and forth, an ever-present reminder of the gentle atmosphere of the K-Science lab. He especially enjoyed how, even though he had the support of his cane, Hermann leaned into Newt, pressing their foreheads together and staring into his eyes. It felt so intimate, so close. Newt’s heart was in his throat, he’d never felt anything like this before and it was amazing.

The song, despite probably having lasted half an hour, seemed to end all too soon. Hermann let go of Newt’s shoulder, leaving Newt feeling somehow incomplete.

“Well, you got your dance,” Hermann said, adjusting his tie. “Let’s go.”

“What? No,” Newt whined. “I… I don’t want it to be over.” Had he not been so drunk, he might’ve been able to put some of his thoughts into words. Like how he’d never felt anything like that before, and dancing with Hermann was the best thing that ever happened to him and he felt like he was going to keel over and die the moment they parted ways to their separate living quarters. But all that came out was “Stay.”

“Come with me,” Hermann suggested.

“Like… to your room?”

“Where else?”

Newt’s heart fluttered. This could be meaningless, they could just be going back to Hermann’s room to sleep. Or it could be something else. He couldn’t contain himself. He squeezed Hermann’s hand tightly in anticipation as they rode the elevator down toward the K-Sci lab, next to which Hermann’s room had been set up. Newt’s room wasn’t that much farther off, so if Hermann wanted to kick him out, he probably wouldn’t feel that bad about it. But Newt tried not to worry too much about that.

Hermann set his cane down against the nightstand and sat down on the bed, patting the space next to him, inviting Newt to sit down. Newt did so, crossing his legs and staring at the floor. He wanted to say something, his head was practically exploding with everything he wanted to say, but he couldn’t put any of it into words. Thankfully, Hermann began first. He pulled at Newt’s button-up, dragging it off of one shoulder.

“Is this okay?” he asked softly.

“Yes,” Newt replied, trying to hide his excitement. Hermann gently pulled off his shirt, revealing the beautiful rainbow of tattoos beneath. He traced the waves spiraling across Newt’s collarbone, and Newt smiled stupidly.

“Can I…” Newt stumbled over his words, reaching a hand over to grasp at the lapels of Hermann’s jacket. “Can I at least take off your jacket?”

“Of course,” Hermann replied. He guided Newt’s hands over the buttons, and Newt undid them slowly, barely able to concentrate from a combination of tipsiness and excitement. After Newt had finally removed Hermann’s jacket, Hermann decided he was tired of waiting, and pulled off his shirt as well.

“How long have you had that on?” Newt asked, gesturing vaguely at Hermann’s binder. Hermann went red.

“Not… not very long,” he replied. “It’s not coming off, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“Fair,” Newt replied. He was secretly a little disappointed, but he didn’t let it show. “Just… you know, from experience, dude, you’ll feel better if you get top surgery.”

“Perhaps,” Hermann conceded. “But I am scared of knives, Newton.”

“You help me with dissections on a daily basis,” Newt laughed.

“It’s an irrational fear, yes.”

“Poor baby.” Newt mussed up Hermann’s hair, leading Hermann to scowl lovingly at him. Then he laid a hand on Newton’s shoulder and brought him in close, pressing their foreheads together as he had during the dance. Newt’s heart raced. He gently pressed a kiss to Hermann’s lips, testing the waters, seeing what he could get away with. Once he did that, however, Hermann wouldn’t let him stop. He kissed so passionately for such an uptight and proper man, and Newt was pleasantly surprised by just how good at it he was. Hermann ran a hand through Newt’s soft hair, pulling him even closer as he did so.

Newt swung one leg over Hermann’s lap. This simply wouldn’t do in Hermann’s mind, so he shoved Newt off of himself. Newt toppled unceremoniously onto the bed, his head resting on the pillow and his arms against the headboard. It was as humiliating of a display as Newt’s dancing, but Hermann found it doubly attractive. He leaned down to kiss Newt, palms flat on the pillow right next to Newt’s face, towering over the bespectacled scientist.

It was like a dream for Newt. In fact, he remembered having a dream that went something almost exactly like this. Hoping to end the exchange exactly how it had ended in the dream, Newt gripped Hermann’s shoulder, pulling him down so he hovered just above him. Hermann took off his glasses and set them on the nightstand, and Newt did the same, brimming with excitement. This was happening, this was really happening. Newt couldn’t contain himself, dragging Hermann down on top of him and kissing him messily.

“Wait, wait,” Hermann said, pulling himself up off of Newt. Newt was a mess, sweaty and bright red, mouth open as if demanding more.

Newt let out a whine that could have been interpreted as a question.

“I… don’t know about this.”

Newt stared up at him, tightening his lips into a pout.

“We’re colleagues, Newton. This is highly inappropriate.”

“We’re the only people in our department. No one would ever know.”

“I would still like to have the proper paperwork filed if we’re to have a… relationship.”

“Would we even need paperwork? I mean, I know I have more doctorates than you, but I’m not like, your boss.”

Hermann sighed at Newt’s blatant mention of his many degrees. The little bastard was stuck-up as shit, but Hermann loved him ever so much.

“It never hurts to ask,” he replied.

“Fine. We’ll go up to Shatterdome HR tomorrow, and we’ll _ask_.” Newt wasn’t even sure that Shatterdome HR was a thing, but he cared enough about Hermann to let him do this.

“Thank you,” Hermann replied.

“You think Shatterdome HR would be okay with us sleeping in the same bed?” Newt asked, eyes wide and desperate.

“I mean… I don’t see the harm. We’ve already done… other things, and it’s just for one night.”

“Okay.” Newt smiled, rolling over to the side of the bed against the wall and staring lovingly at Hermann. Hermann lied down next to him. They stared at each other as they fell asleep. It was good to finally admit there was something there, and both of them felt a weight lift as they drifted off.


End file.
